Good News For STAR WARS Fans! George Lucas Is Retiring From Directing

Wish he'd thought of this prior to the prequels.

score!

Is there any way George would let someone else make episodes 7-9????? Just a thought.

This is actually pretty depressing. I love how he more or less states the only reason we're not getting more Star Wars films is because of the fanboys that complain incessantly about the (in all honesty, pretty minor) changes he makes to HIS movies. So, thanks, fanboys.
The only thing I like about this, is I'd love to see some smaller, more personal art house style films from him.

mrcool210 is the 210 for SA?

Well this certainly proves one thing . . . TheGODDAMNSUPERGUY is definately a brony.

Oh, and that nobody really like Lucas at all because of the Star Wars series beyond the original trilogy. Really though, I know the prequel series isn't as good as the original; but c'mon, just be they aren't something like the . . . . . Twilight series? Yeah, I can't come up with a very good example in showing how the Prequel trilogy aren't so bad.

@BigK1337 I like the Prequels. Not as much as the Originals, but still. It's not Superman Returns...

I liked the Star Wars prequels...I liked the new Indiana Jones....and I'm pretty sure I will like Red Tails.

I hate to dig up this old argument, but I still think there's essentially nothing wrong with the prequels. The story that the prequels tell was kinda already around before they were made. So...if you don't like the prequels, you don't like Star Wars.

It's got nothing to do with Lucas...it's got nothing to do with is directing...it's got nothing to do with good movies and bad movies. YOU simply do not like the story of Star Wars in the pre-Darth age.
Some of today's most well-known and highest paid actors took part in what was one of the biggest and most largely celebrated film sagas ever made. The only thing Lucas really had to do with it was the story, and without Lucas, there would be no Star Wars.
So you guys are telling me, that with the best actors, the best special fx, long run-times, and one of the most iconic film-makers of all time...that the prequels suck?

George is such a Sith-head. :)

@Fartman What you don't understand is that a fun movie is not necessarily a good movie. Great actors don't make movies great. Great effects don't make movies great. Story doesn't make movies great. How actors, effects, and the rest of the movie tell a story makes a movie great.

Its like a cake if you stir the batter too much or to little, you can ruin it. If you bake it too long or not long enough, you can ruin it. You can ruin the cake by adding things to it after it is finished. Even things that seem completely unrelated to the cake can ruin the cake if the cake is still fresh.

And here it comes. The inevitable parade of scrotal infections spewing their infantile hatred of George Lucas. Still whining incessantly about something THEY didn't like from 13 YEARS ago. Time to grow the f**K up and move on now. And I know at some point some long-winded assbag is gonna come and start listing the things that were "wrong" with the films. Sadly, only the most childish of minds would expend SO much energy - REPEATEDLY - and waste so much time talking shit about something they could so easily avoid.

It would have been good news if he stayed retired way back in 1980 when he lost the balls to direct The Empire Strikes Back and then got hit by a bus!

He lost interest in making Star Wars films then, he collapsed every story he ever had planned into Return of the Jedi and told SW fans to go 'F' themselves by making two Ewok Movies instead simply for the merchandise sales!

The only reason he returned to SW was because the use of digital FX making a stir with Jurassic Park and Terminator 2. He told the idiot fans the lies they wanted to hear about waiting years for this moment while really all he was doing was seeing what he could experiment with by using the original trilogy as guinea pigs. He then went on to make the prequels without even writing a story or a finished script each time they began shooting, that's how much planning went into those movies during his 16 years away from SW! But he already knew they story don't matter, these idiots only watch these films for the FX and he was right!

Now those same idiots were still walking around in la la land thinking one day he'll complete the saga with 7, 8 and 9. The reality of it is he hates Star Wars, it grew bigger and harder to handle than he ever dreamed and he ended it when he thought he could still make money doing other stuff, he failed! After 16 years, a duck superhero and a poor mans version of Lord of the Rings later he realised the only way to make cash is to bleed Star Wars dry, it's easy money because there were idiots galore like myself keeping it alive with role play games, comics etc and just waiting to part with their cash for anything with a Star Wars stamp on it. And this is why there never were any plans to make 7, 8 and 9, he couldn't care less about making more SW films, the prequels did their job of showcasing what ILM can to with digital film and that was his aim, Digital filming, digital FX and digital editing. Star Wars, writing and directing anything were the last things ever on his mind!

The problem with the last 3 movies is simple, when star wars first came out Lucas had a budget & a certain time to finish the movie so he had to cut things out & all that jazz. Now he has a buttload of money & nobody to tell him what he can & can't do. He should definetly produce the next star wars movie but give an up & coming director a shot with a modest budget.

This is so bull shit. Why is it that its always the haters who are the most vocal? George Lucas created two of the greatest film franchises of all time. Star Wars and Indy fans should be ashamed of the way we have un-rightfully attacked his recent films. I mean honestly, was it really necessary? You cannot honestly watch those the prequels or the 4th Indy movie and tell me that they were complete shit? You cant say that they were bad enough for you to constantly attack one of the greatest directors of our time and cause him retire. It's absolutely pathetic. Show some class fandom. Be reasonable. Basically, don't act like [frick]ing trolls.

And that title for the article. Seriously? Show some [frick]ing respect.

@Fartman
Halle-[frick]ing-lujah. Truer words have never been spoken.

I'm not sure any of you are familiar with film critic Drew McWeeny from Hitfix.com but around the time Star Wars came out on Blu-Ray he showed his little boys all six movies in these Film Nerd 2.0 articles. In his article on The Phantom Menace he had this to say -

"I have written before about the disconnect I feel from fandom because I don't get rabidly angry over the prequels and because I don't feel the burning desire to rant about George Lucas at the drop of a hat, and every time I talk about this, I get the same strident angry e-mails from people who demand that I have to feel the same way they do. It's almost scary how much venom some people are still able to muster about these films at any mention of them, especially when you watch them with an audience like the boys, where there's no sense of hype or the larger state of fandom. They love the world of "Star Wars" so much that they are happy just to spend time watching people fly around in spaceships and encounter weird aliens and fight with lightsabers. In just two movies, they've already fallen in love enough that they're happy simply to know they get to spend more time around "Star Wars." I haven't seen the prequels in six years, so watching them now, with some distance, I think the overreaction to "Phantom Menace" has to be one of the low points of modern fandom. It is an imperfect film, certainly, but it remains one of the most preposterously scaled works of imagination I can name, a movie that casually introduces whole worlds and races of creatures, throwing out new ideas and images at a gallop. And the flaws that have been beaten to death by Mr. Plunkett and his devotees are far less outsized than they insist. When someone says "The film doesn't make any sense," that's simply not true. You may not like the movie, but the film makes both narrative and thematic sense, and there are some nice things Lucas does that he gets no credit for. I like the way the storyline about the Queen and her decoys serves as a mirror for the notion that Darth Sidious might be hiding in plain view, and I like the lesson the film sets up about the relationship between the Naboo and the Gungans."

You know what that is? A level headed review of a movie. That is NOT some troll. Why can't we all be like that? Why do we have to take a baseball bat and beat the shit out of stuff we don't like? It just blows my mind.

Who cares, all I wanted him to do was to stop tinkering with the original trilogy. Thats all!

Damn good look on retirement Georgie. Finally a new director and team of writers can step up and create a BRAND NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY. I pray this happens.

He didn't even direct Red Tails, after years of wanting to make the bloody film he still has no stomach for real directing so he handed it to someone else.. again!

And yes year of wantiong to make it, I was a member of the Star Wars fan club back in 1982 when ROTJ was being made and he stated in the fan club newsletter (Bantha Tracks) that he wanted to make this film after ROTJ was finished. ...Yeah, took him long enough, got sidetracked making money out of idiots with SW merchandise!

Later fat boy.

The Starwars movies are some of best movies out there. Lucas came up with some original ideas and that was some of the best ideas ever. I'll admit when I was a kid I was like What the hell is this? why did the first movie say episode 4? then he made the prequels and I was like that is Fricking fantastic. Such an imagination he has and then to bring his imagination to life? isn't that everyones dream? all the characters he made were so original, fun, loving characters that even if they looked like fat blobs you'd find a way to like them. We should all praise him for what he has accomplished, the story telling that he did? come on give him credit. Stop hating on everything. Im a fan, and this is a fan site. And I'd say "Fans you are not"

Lucas is retiring. I hope he really does follow up on those smaller personal films as he's VISUALLY a great director and I want to see more of what he has to offer (that, and maybe he'll finally leave SW alone so I don't have to shell out for a new release...I swear, the inevitable 3D blu-ray is the last time... :) . When he's telling the story with the visuals, sound, score, etc he's great. Dialogue is not his strong point and I don't think it ever has been. He had great collaborators in Ford, Fisher, and Hamil, and that covered for it in the OT. I like the prequels overall and if there's one thing I'd say as a negative towards them is that it seems to lack that spontaneousness and energy from the originals. Other than that, the prequels were good and with a little editing would've been on par with the OT.

So to LUcas, hopefully you'll keep producing and doing "small projects" personal to you because I'd rather have that than nothing at all. You've earned your peace. Enjoy it.

"For all who complaining on Internet about my changes on Star Wars, I say "Fine", but it's my movie. With my name. I made it and it need be done as I wish."


Funny, that quote of George Lucas, you don't published...

I enjoyed all movies and seriously... Stupid post and Stupid comments. =)

Thanks for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, George.

@ WittySupername

Agreed! Why is it that it almost always the haters who are the most vocal? Where are all of the fans? People need to show more support. After all this is a "Fan" Site. In the words of Conan O'Brien - "All I ask of you, especially young people...is one thing. Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere."